Up at 3 AM as on every Tuesday
for volunteer work. All loaded up now,
pulling out of the warehouse driveway
for the 20-mile weekly trip to Richmond.
900 pounds in the van,
which the guys at the Emergency Food Pantry
and I will unload in 5 or 10 minutes.
It’s really Spring now, sky starting
to get light over San Pablo reservoir at 5:30.
By 6 I’m back in the van for the return trip
across the miles of woodland, water and hills.
Brought my harmonica today
and as the sun rises, begin to play and sing—
And everything, everything begins
to spill out of me in music, a whole life.
Old songs with stories behind my knowing them:
Jim Croce’s “Operator”, Dr. Hook’s “Queen of the Silver Dollar,”
and the old Dylan ones like “Love Is Just a Four Letter Word”—
playing each on the harp, wailing the words
as can only be done on a day like this,
a rooster crowing to the rising sun!
As they go on spilling out, the pull
of my recent living and suffering
gets connected up with all the old parts of me
that loved and suffered before
until it’s all One
and I’m ready for more,
more life, bring it on!
All caught up now and ready.
Because when you have this kind of Wake-up,
you remember once more
that only the Love is real.
